Publishing Talk Magazine issue 7 – Self-Publishing

Jon Reed 20th April 201525th October 2020 #ptmag, Alison Baverstock, Alison Jones, Andrew Lownie, Ben Galley, cover design, indie authors, marketing, Self-Publishing

Learn how to design your own book cover, self-publish successfully, and market your books in issue 7.

Issue 7 is available as a print-on-demand magazine from MagCloud and a Kindle edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Many of the articles are also available as blog posts on this site.

In this issue:

How to create an on-trend book cover – a 3-page, 5-step tutorial by Sarah Juckes
Top three self-publishing mistakes and how to avoid them – Leila Dewji
Do you really need an editor? Lucy Ridout shows you how to hire an editor
Top 10 ways to market your book – Alison Baverstock’s advice for indie authors
How to get started on social media – indie bestseller Ben Galley’s top tips
Self-publishing as a business strategy – Alison Jones on why your book is your greatest marketing tool
How to build a content strategy – insights from Publishing for Digital Minds from Jon Reed
Nine Muses for indie authors – Tom Evans on the multiple sources of inspiration needed
How an agency sells its authors – Andrew Lownie on how to increase your chances of being taken on
How to be a Wattpad sensation – how Emily Benet went from self-publishing to a publishing deal
10 golden rules for work experience – Suzanne Collier on how to make the most of your placement.

Is everyone a publisher now? That’s the question that was posed by a one-day conference I recently attended at Kingston University, at which several Publishing Talk contributors spoke. Certainly it has never been easier to self-publish – but that doesn’t mean you should press the ‘publish’ button too quickly!

There is a lot of practical advice in this self-publishing themed issue to help you get it right, from avoiding common mistakes (p5) to making sure your book is well edited (p6) to a 3-page tutorial on designing your own book cover (p10). If you’re an indie author you have to do everything, including marketing. Tom Evans shares his thoughts on nine Muses needed by indie authors (p16), Alison Baverstock outlines the top 10 ways to market your book (p8), and Ben Galley gets you started with social media (p7).

Self-publishing isn’t just for fiction authors: Alison Jones shows how you can use it as part of a business strategy (p13); and Jon Reed offers some thoughts on content marketing gleaned from this year’s Publishing for Digital Minds Conference (p14).

Do you need an agent if you self-publish? Andrew Lownie offers his thoughts, along with advice on how to get an agent (p18). Some authors self-publish first with a view to getting a traditional deal – Emily Benet did that by serializing her novel online using Wattpad (p22), and shares her advice.

Hope this issue helps you achieve your self-publishing goals!